The present invention relates to an automotive headlight with a bowl-shaped plastic reflector that has at its apex an opening surrounded at the rear of the reflector by a sheet-metal retaining ring that accommodates an incandescent lamp, that is inserted into openings in the reflector with its securing tabs bent back toward the reflector, and that is secured to the reflector by barbs on the securing tabs that engage the edges of the holes.
The opening in the apex of the plastic reflector in an automotive headlight of this type, known from Italian Pat. No. 864,607, is surrounded by a collar. Shaped onto the outside of the collar are diametrically opposed elevations with slit-like openings that accommodate the bent-back securing tabs on the retaining ring that secures the lamp. Cut free and bent out from each securing tab is a barbed tongue extending in the direction opposite the one that the retaining ring is inserted in. The barbs, which engage the openings in the reflector secure the retaining ring to the reflector.
Since the dies that produce the slit-like openings in the elevations on the reflector are very thin-walled, the life of the tool is extremely short. Futhermore, the retaining ring can be mounted simply and rapidly only when the distance between the openings in the reflector and that between the securing tabs coincide with a highly precise tolerance. Again, the openings must match the width of the securing tabs with a very precise tolerance if the retaining ring that accommodates the lamp is to fit snugly.
Another automotive headlight is known form German GM Pat. No. 7,321,153. Its securing tabs are bent back in the direction that the retaining ring is inserted in and have barbs that are cut free at the lateral edges and taper conically down to their free end. The securing tabs are again, as in the aforesaid automotive headlight, inserted into slit-like openings in the reflector. These openings must match the width of the securing tabs very precisely.